The Robert Mueller Report

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5. Petrol prices helping consumers spend.

Lower petrol prices – which might just hit a 10-year low – seems to have spurred consumers to spend more this Christmas according to the latest BDO Australian Retail Index.

The Australianreports that sales revenue for the period from December 1 to December 21 was 16 per cent higher than last year.

6. Measles alert

By Bonnie Christian

Measles warning.

Two people who were infected with measles in Bali have returned to Perth, sparking a warning hundreds of people could have been exposed to the virus on the flight or at various locations around the city.

The two were holidaying with their family at the popular tourist destination when they contracted the disease.

They were contagious when they travelled on Air Asia flight QZ 548 from Denpasar to Perth on December 20.

Passengers who were on the flight may be at risk of developing measles.

Others may also have been exposed if they were at the following locations at the weekend:

WA’s Communicable Disease Control medical coordinator Paul Effler said if anyone thought they were in those areas at the time and developed a fever with other symptoms including a cough, runny nose or sore red eyes within the next two weeks, they should stay at home and consult their doctor.

He said anyone with the symptoms should call ahead and mention their possible contact with measles so they could be isolated when they arrived at the GP surgery or emergency department.

There have now been three cases of measles being contracted by West Australians in Bali in the last few weeks, and there have been a record number of cases this year, with 43 West Australians having been diagnosed with the virus.

At least seven of those have been directly linked to Bali and one linked to Indonesia.

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Dr Effler said measles was the most contagious disease known to humans.

“If you’re susceptible or you’re in the same area as someone as a measles case you will get it,” he said.

A version of this story was originally published on ABC and has been republished with full permission.

7. Happy Birthday Gammy

Happy Birthday Gammy

Gammy, the baby with down syndrome who was abandoned in Thailand by his Australian surrogate parents has celebrated his first birthday.

The Daily Mail reports that Gammy now lives in a “comfortable house paid for using part of the $250,000 raised for the family through public donations, which has new furniture, a television set, and plenty of kids’ toys.”

Peter Baines the founder of the charity handling Gammy’s medical and living expenses told The Daily Mail that Gammy was a healthy, happy boy who loves interacting with his brother.

“ He’s got a beautiful personality about him,” he said.

“It’s not right he be defined by health issues, or what happened to him, or the fact that he’s got Down syndrome.

“He’s getting fat like a little one-year-old should, now he’s over the worst of his health issues.”

8. Cyclone Tracy Anniversary

Darwin is remembering the devastating impact that Cyclone Tracy had on the city – 40 years on.

The cyclone flattened Darwin, killed 66 people and injured hundreds more on Christmas Day 1974.

The city will pause for a moment tomorrow to remember lives lost.

9. Lemonade stall ban

An 11-year old girl in Bunbury West Australia has had her lemonade stall shut down after a council deemed her products “high risk.”

Chelsea Ruderforth’s mother said all her daughter wanted to do as make a bit of extra pocket money.

Women and girls from Iraq’s Yazidi religious minority forced into sexual slavery by the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group are “deeply traumatised”, Amnesty International says, with some attempting to take their own lives.

IS militants have overrun swathes of Iraq since June, declared a cross-border caliphate, also encompassing parts of neighbouring Syria, and carried out a litany of abuses in both countries.

The group has targeted Yazidis and other minorities in north Iraq in a campaign that Amnesty International said amounted to ethnic cleansing, murdering civilians and enslaving others for a fate that some captives considered even worse than death.

Amnesty International’s senior crisis response adviser Donatella Rovera said Yazidi women and children who fled the Sinjar region last August were in “dire conditions”, particularly when it came to their psychological health.

“They have suffered unbelievable atrocities,” Ms Rovera said.

“They have also seen atrocities being committed on others, on their relatives … some of them have seen their relatives being killed.

“The greatest damage has been done to them as women and girls. They have been tortured, including by being raped and sexually abused.

“They have been forced to marry fighters from the Islamic State groups.

“They have been sold as sex slaves essentially.”

Amnesty said that many of the perpetrators were IS fighters, but may also have included supporters of the group.

A version of this story was originally published on ABC and has been republished with full permission.

12. Daredevil recreated UP!

Oh how much fun does this look?

A daredevil is the US has been lifted 2.5km into the air with the help of 90 colourful, helium-filled balloons tied to a deckchair in scenes reminiscent of the movie UP.

13. Homeopathy plus! misled consumers

In a win we can all celebrate an online homeopathy business who told consumers the whooping cough vaccine was “unreliable at best” and “largely ineffective” has been found to have breached Australian consumer law.

The company had claimed that the vaccine for Whooping cough was ineffective, trying to connive consumers that homeopathic treatments were an effective alternative.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission told News Limited:

“We were worried if people were reading these kind of statement they would choose not to have the vaccine and rely on one of these homeopathic treatments.”

“There are real public safety risks that come from that kind of statement.”

The matter returns to court in February where the company could face up to a $1.1 million fine.

14. Santa countdown

Despite a set back for Rudolph Santa is ready.

Despite some wintery conditions in the North Pole it seems that all is on track for the big guy with the beard to take off this evening.

The North Pole Post reported that there were concerns Rudolph’s cruciate ligament injury would see hi out for this evening’s festivities but the elves have used an unusual mix of peppermint, chili seeds and elk milk to fix the elderly reindeer’s injury.

A spokesman for Santa Claus said, “The sleigh is nearly packed and the schedule is fixed. We are very excited to attempt to compete tonight’s route in record time.”